Books

            This week’s post lists some of my favorite books, by category. I don’t know if these are really my favorites, or if I simply have pleasant memories of my experiences reading the books, and memory is unreliable. These days I read a lot of books on my kindle, and those books tend to disappear because they are not lying around, and because most of the books I download on my kindle are ones whose disappearance will not bother me as long as I enjoy the reading.

            Here’s my list. If I do it a week from now, the list will probably be completely different.

Favorite “Classic” Novel

            Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky  – my introduction to human perversity

            Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

            Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

            The Little Prince by Antoine Saint-Exupéry

Guilty Pleasure

            Fifty Shades of Gray by E. L. James

When I was in my 20s . . ..

            The Ginger Man by J.P. Donleavy – I’ve not reread it, but I remember loving the style

            Women in Love by D. H. Lawrence – my introduction to women in love

When I was a Kid

            The Hardy Boys by F.W. Dixon and a committee who actually did the writing.

Books Recommended by my Sons

            Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card – and the sequel, Speaker for the Dead, is equally good: sci-fi at its best.

Books I Recently Read and Loved

            The Other Wife by Michael Robotham

            The Overstory by Richard Powers – long, complex, brilliant, and an important environmental story.

Precocious High School Reading

            The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer - a step up from The Hardy Boys

            Dialogues of Plato - I read some and said, “What’s this?” So, I wrote one. My teacher advised that I not write any more.

Author in Whose Book I Don’t Want to be a Character

            John Updike - He would see right through me.

Books You Probably Never Heard Of

            The Bone People by Keri Hulme - Set in New Zealand, the story involves the Maori people, Europeans, and a magical artist. I read it on a flight to Aukland.

Books by People I Know

            The Woods are On Fire by Fleda Brown

            Guilty at the Rapture by Keith Taylor

            The Great Halifax Explosion by John U. Bacon

            The Very Inappropriate Word by Jim Tobin and Dave Coverly

Humor

            Anything by David Sedaris

            Anything by Bill Bryson

            The Book of Guys by Garrison Keillor

            The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump

Best Book Title

            Waking Up Dead by Stephen Dunning

Non-Fiction

            Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

            A quick look at my list tells me that most of the authors are men. Guilty! I know there are a couple of works by Joyce Carol Oates that should be on the list, but I kindled them, and they have disappeared into the digital soup.

            Now it’s your turn. What are your favorites? What categories are better than mine? What should I read when I have time? Let  me know at dstring@ix.netcom.com or stringer.david13@gmail.com.